Live data from Hacker News

Tesla Energy

teslamotors.com

311–320 of 590 posts

Re: Tesla Energy

#311
post #252
post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" 4kW seems to be the maximum potential drain from the battery. That wouldn't power an oven… let alone anything else at the same time." 4kW is enough to power an entire home continuously, without thinking about energy use, even a large one with a home office with several people working in it + washing machine + oven + electrical stove at the same time . I have the data to prove it, too - 10 second interval power cons…

My air conditioner is 12 kW. No chance.

Thank you for mentioning this. Too many people in this thread forget that not everyone lives in a temperate coastal area.

Re: Tesla Energy

#312
post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see how it's immediately beneficial for just about everyone. I currently have a flat rate for kWh and no solar panel... and moving soon. It's not worth the $. In 6 months I'll be renting for a year, still not beneficial. Perhaps in a couple years I can purchase solar, a battery, and an energy system that can automate some demand shedding but we're talking about 1%ers here. In fact, I'd say it's only immediate…

You missed an additional subset of users. I live in an old neighborhood that experiences power outages and fluctuations once or twice a year. This is fantastic and something I will be installing as soon as I can. So older neighborhoods, rural areas with inconsistent power supply. All of these potentially benefit from this.

Living in a region with cold weather, this is the kind of situation I would like to solve too. The problem is that a generator still has benefits over a battery, it can be refilled (i.e. when you lose electricity for a longer period).

Re: Tesla Energy

#313
post #68
post #48

> 7kWh or 10kWh Can anyone speak to what that could power? Could I run a load of laundry with it? How about dry it afterwards? Here in Italy people mostly take advantage of "solar power" by hanging clothes to dry, but just to get an idea of what the battery could run.

To put it in perspective: in Florida, in the summer, using a 4ton very old/inefficient AC in a 2000sqft house in 100 degree summer weather, electric oven, refrigerator, washer/dryer and all other household stuff. I would burn about 3kw / hr in the middle of the day. So in theory the 10kwh would power a extreme case like this for ~3hours, and 9 of them could do it for ~27hrs. So yes you could do everything you would n…

Interesting numbers if you contrast them to another comment on this article saying his A/C was 12kWH.

Re: Tesla Energy

#314
post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A better way of looking at it is that it's immediately beneficial to anyone who owns real estate.

Or anyone who lives on Earth with a vested interest in limiting carbon emissions.

I think I'd want to see an environment impact assessment of manufacturing the batteries.

Re: Tesla Energy

#315
With the hoped roll out of more electric cars charging them will place an undue load on the grid, if it isn't orchestrated. Tesla plan to be able to control when they discharge to the grid, so this could go some way to reduce stresses on the electric grid when more people want to recharge it. Just a thought.

Re: Tesla Energy

#317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the power in the US comes from coal. Solar is 0.4%: http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=427&t=3 What do you do with the batteries and the toxic materials inside when you're done with them (and how long do they last)? What do you do with all the toxic materials produced during mining, refining, and production of batteries and materials? How do you deal with these same issues as they affect solar panels, w…

1. As already posted, no, coal does not produce most of the electric power. It does dominate other sources though. The problem with your rejoinder is it assumes the past, not the future generation fleet. Musk's goal is to enable renewable generation, eliminating coal. 2. There are no particularly toxic materials in the batteries. Landfills accept discarded lithium batteries as regular waste. While lithium is not curr…

>*"What toxic materials are you referring to? I'm not aware of anything that stands out, especially compared to coal mining, or tar sands production"

Water usage, along with the carbon emissions from the large diesel vehicles that are actually digging the stuff up.

Re: Tesla Energy

#318

My tweet from a few days ago: It would be poignant if Tesla (the company) decentralized power generation & storage considering free energy was Tesla's (the man) dream

Everyone has known what this announcement was going to be for a month.

Re: Tesla Energy

#319
post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"and can only provide 2kW output." only 2kW? 2kW is enough to power any residential, single-family house for 95-98% of the time; you only need (a little bit) more than that at very short (few minutes) peak intervals - when heating up an oven, or some cycles of doing laundry. A second unit would provide that headroom, and otherwise (when the extra $5k for a second unit is prohibitive) you could still draw from the gri…

I use incandescent lights. They produce a much more pleasant spectrum than “white” CFLs or LEDs.

I don't like the "warm" light from LEDs, either, which is 2700-3000K. However, now I use 4500K "natural/neutral light" LEDs. I can't describe how much nicer it is than incandescent light.

It's "sunny middle of the day" light. It's brilliant and I love it. I could never use anything else now. Just make sure it's 4500k.

Post reply on HN